Personality clusters and family relationships in women with eating pathology.

摘要

Objective. Recent research has identified three personality clusters in eating disordered women that predict important clinical variables such as level of functioning and treatment length and outcome better than DSM-IV eating disorder diagnoses. The purpose of the present study was to expand upon previous research by comprehensively examining personality clusters and family relationships in women with subclinical eating pathology and by attempting to replicate previous links between clusters and level of functioning variables. As an exploratory aim of the study, personality clusters of women without eating pathology (i.e., control group) were also analyzed to determine if three similar personality clusters were present and whether clusters differed on level of functioning variables and family relationships. Method . Participants included 795 female undergraduate students at Michigan State University who were screened for the presence of disordered eating and classified into one of three groups: women who restrict food but do not binge or purge (R; n = 20), women who binge and purge (B/P; n = 62), and women with no eating pathology (CON; n = 109). Participants completed measures assessing disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, personality, family relationships, and psychosocial and clinical functioning. Results. Three personality clusters (i.e., Adaptive, Rigid, Dysregulated) were found in women with eating pathology, and these clusters differed on level of functioning and family relationships. In addition, clusters predicted level of functioning better than initial disordered eating groups (i.e., R, B/P). Three clusters were also found in the CON group, and were labeled Resilients, Overcontrollers, and Undercontrollers. These clusters also differed on level of functioning and family relationships. Discussion . Findings from this study increase understanding of personality profiles of women with subclinical eating disorders and provide further validation that personality clusters, and not DSM-IV eating disorder diagnoses, have more clinical utility in predicting psychosocial functioning. Specific family relationships associated with personality clusters in eating disordered women were also found that could be important to target in treatment. Finally, results pointed to three personality clusters in the CON group that highly resembled clusters in the disordered eating groups, and which may be relevant for understanding other forms of psychopathology.